After what we thought would be an awesome nights sleep, we woke up still a bit groggy. Sleeping with one eye open on creep patrol isn't exactly restful. But that cereal bar got us out of bed and on our way! We walked less than 5 minutes to the famous fruit & flower market that lies on a road of one restaurant after another, parallel to the ocean. It was an awesome market, and we were really tempted to buy the tiny potted orange trees as a souvenir but decided they maaay not make it. Maybe next time. After the market we thought we should give the rocky riviera a try, so we walked down and sat right by the water. It was suprisingly comfortable! There were old Irish people burning to a crisp, studly couples enjoying the day in their banana hammocks, and of course lots of topless leathery-skinned ladies who mothered half of the baby boomers. Ah the French riviera... Where the beautiful people go.
We'd seen (and been scarred) by enough boobs, so on we went to climb le chateau...(flashback: insert pink haze around like saved by the bell episode- Kelly remembers being here at 8 years old and seeing a kid her age smoking a cigarette while her parents laughed and laughed overlooking the beach through the big 1euro binoculars. Mike, Jill, we get it now and it is still just as funny... End of pink-rimmed flashaback). After a billion stairs we were overlooking all of nice in a park sitting high above the coast line. In order to preserve the natural wild life, France decided to not use pesticides here so we walked up and around in silence... One word could have been the end of a thousand bugs life. Yes, we know, how considerate of us. We parked our bums on a bench and ate our peanut butter sandwhiches, avoiding the over priced cafe full of delicious snacks. Go us!
From here we decided we wanted to skim through our lonely planet Italy book (thanks patti and Simon), since it seemed we had done all the must-dos of Nice. We popped in our hostel to pick it up and then headed off to a very classy, popular and French spot for a coffee... McCafe! This is NOT a mcdonalds folks, it is the classy cafe part in front that resembles a starbucks but smells like French fries. The French sure know how to keep it classy. We mapped out a very general route of where we wanted to go and then headed home to get ready for a big night out in Monaco!
Under normal circumstances, these two primpers would have put on our best and done a fair share of pampering to go somewhere like Monte Carlo. But, we are backpackers. So we put on one of our two skirts/dresses and busted heels, applied some makeup and called it quits. While getting ready, a girl came into our all boy dorm! We chatted about her trip and ours to which Kelly asked "you don't have a clutch we could borrow do you?" (it never hurts to ask, right?!) and the girl said yes! To which Kelly exclaimed excitement and then asked her name. Oh the life of a nomad...
Our short train ride took us down the coast where the sun began to set. It was the most picturesque backdrop possible to the Yachts, sailboats and mountains which were covered in houses and some in snow. We jumped off in Monaco and followed winding signs towards what we hoped was the casino of monte carlo. After wandering around in awe of the spectacular hillside, yachts in the harbor and bentley after bentley passing us, there it was... The casino. To say that the building and square is gorgeous would be an understatement. Lights, fountains, every designer store and fancy cars surrounded us... We weren't in Kansas anymore. We talked to a nice Canadian couple who offered some advice and then perused the menus around the area as usual. We made friends with a doorman outside Big Buddha and he guided us around the hot spots on a quiet Tuesday. Then we decided to stay there for sushi. Inside everything was red, gold and dark and couches lined the first floor bar and lounge. We stayed down here, where we could see the Dj spin trippy tunes above in the restaurant. One glass of wine and a sushi roll later we were in glam heaven. A far cry from our day to day lives now (or ever) made for a fun field trip! Now, time to gamble.
We walked into the silent lobby at the casino of Monte Carlo, where Jenny (as usual) snapped illegal pics and then decided we didnt care to spend 10 euros to enter. We know what you're thinking, our potential sugar daddy could have been in there, but what if he wasn't? We can't afford to take bets like that and then be s.o.l. y'all. So we went to the slots! It took us awhile to pick the perfect one, and it didn't help that the security watched us like hawks (probably because once again Jenny was snapping pics). Finally we picked it. 5 euros was the minimum so in it went... More credits than we could count later, we cashed out with 26 euros! That's right blog followers, we finally made some money! (que awesome theme song now). We went to another building and played Russian roulette, well first we tried to be some pipsqueek-know-it-all boys lucky charm and they lost 50 bucks. Woops! We put in 5 and left with 9 :)
At this point we had to catch the last train back to nice; we did not want to leave but it was probably for the best. We made it home winners! Let us know what you think we should do with our fat new stack of cash!
Monaco is stunning, a really beautiful and clean Disney world for wealthy adults. Kelly, whos idol is grace Kelly, really wanted to go see her tomb at the cathedral, but we didn't have time. Bummer... BUT... we have already made and executive decision to come back to monte Carlo as adults, together, with great outfits and money to spend. Mmm... Sweet dreams bloggies :)
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Monday, April 4th - Alex Foster wears jeans
Today we arrived in Nice in the French Riviera, how posh! We fit riight in with our scraggle hair and seemingly already dirty clothes. We forgot to tell you guys, big news, huge! We did laundry in Barcelona! We found a laundromat a 10 minute walk from our hotel and decided to head that way at 8am and wash every item of clothing. This left a serious dilemma...what to wear for these few hours in public? Fortunately the ever glam Alex Foster (Jen's 15 year old brother) had some clothes for us to borrow...but NOT jeans, ew, those are not appropriate high school attire these days we learned. If you wear jeans to IHHS you may get broken up with, hated on, no one will sit with you, and heck maybe even defreinded on facebook. He adorned us in sweatpants and some staple t-shits (for you Hangover fans out there, Kel's read "One Man Wolf Pack") Alex dreerily opened one eye and asked "Do I look as homeless as you guys in those clothes"...to which we simultaneiously replied "more." Okay so now to get our laundry there...we managed to tote our laundry across our side of town and sat back as it all washed and dried. We had crammed our clothes into mesh bags to get them there, which would not work for our return as these bags were also in need of a wash. Huge success, random junk store accross the street sells giant black trash bags, these shall work wonders. We need you to use your imaginations to paint this image in your minds. Dreary makeup-less Kelly and Jenny, both sporting a mean bedhead adorned in boys sweats each carrying 2 enormous trash bags through downtown Barcelona on a Friday morning....it had happened, we were the most homeless people on the planet. People in business suits on there way to work edged away from us and homeless men and gypsy women seemed to recognize us as one of their own :)
Anyway, que the haze to clear, flashback over. We have clean clothes and we are in Nice on a cloudy day with lead feet. We wandered around the city and saw all the major sites but we must admit we were lagging a little. We saw the insane port full of huuge yahts and we selected the ones we would obviously be sailing around the Riviera on in a few years. We people watched...well boob watched...the topless beach of pebbles strwen with sun seekers. Even for a cloudy day the water was a pretty shade of aqua! Next more people watching in the main plaza as we ate our packed lunch of peanut butter sandwiches and fruit comprised of stolen breakfast items from our hostel's breakfast.
Who says we can't siesta in France? No one we decided, so we did. We debated a shower but decided to save the whales instead, partially because the company that joined us in our room was less than favorable. We shall call this nameless guy Le McCreepster...he seemed not to have a personal bubble at all and was not bothered by anyone elses as he hopped right onto Jen's bed as he told us he likes to impregnate every woman that he meets ("a joke obviously" he later declared...but we weren't so sure about this nutter). This must be our que to get up and get out so headed out scruffy to explore Nice nightlife...which was pretty nonexistent We settled for a delicious and enormous salad at a crowded Tex Mex restaurant (Tex Mex is a Nice specialty if you guys didn't know. Jeez, get some culture in your lives!). We never seem to run out of things to blabber away about and here we we talked about the world, its crazy dynamics and mystery and places we wanted to see.
Early to bed for once! Well for us, shut eye before midnight is pretty impressive....until the 7 boys who bunk in our room returned like a herd of elephants and all began snoring in a variety of tones and decibels. We both dozed with one eye open keeping that peeper on Le McCreepster. Mixed dorms are not our fave but when you dont have a plan you dont get to be too picky. We like Nice but we hope we will be able to appreciate it fully when our feet and eyelids feel less heavy and the sun is shining a little more brightly.
We love our life, our travels, our supporters and these experiences more than our blogs can ever convey.
Anyway, que the haze to clear, flashback over. We have clean clothes and we are in Nice on a cloudy day with lead feet. We wandered around the city and saw all the major sites but we must admit we were lagging a little. We saw the insane port full of huuge yahts and we selected the ones we would obviously be sailing around the Riviera on in a few years. We people watched...well boob watched...the topless beach of pebbles strwen with sun seekers. Even for a cloudy day the water was a pretty shade of aqua! Next more people watching in the main plaza as we ate our packed lunch of peanut butter sandwiches and fruit comprised of stolen breakfast items from our hostel's breakfast.
Who says we can't siesta in France? No one we decided, so we did. We debated a shower but decided to save the whales instead, partially because the company that joined us in our room was less than favorable. We shall call this nameless guy Le McCreepster...he seemed not to have a personal bubble at all and was not bothered by anyone elses as he hopped right onto Jen's bed as he told us he likes to impregnate every woman that he meets ("a joke obviously" he later declared...but we weren't so sure about this nutter). This must be our que to get up and get out so headed out scruffy to explore Nice nightlife...which was pretty nonexistent We settled for a delicious and enormous salad at a crowded Tex Mex restaurant (Tex Mex is a Nice specialty if you guys didn't know. Jeez, get some culture in your lives!). We never seem to run out of things to blabber away about and here we we talked about the world, its crazy dynamics and mystery and places we wanted to see.
Early to bed for once! Well for us, shut eye before midnight is pretty impressive....until the 7 boys who bunk in our room returned like a herd of elephants and all began snoring in a variety of tones and decibels. We both dozed with one eye open keeping that peeper on Le McCreepster. Mixed dorms are not our fave but when you dont have a plan you dont get to be too picky. We like Nice but we hope we will be able to appreciate it fully when our feet and eyelids feel less heavy and the sun is shining a little more brightly.
We love our life, our travels, our supporters and these experiences more than our blogs can ever convey.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Sunday April 3rd - On the road again
Today we were back out on the open road, just the 2 of us and our "turtle shells" as jens mom calls our backpacks. After a whole week of family fun and being in one place we weren't sure how we would feel about being back in the hostel hopping world. We knew we would miss the fine dining, hot shower, clean hotel bit, and the Foster fam of course...but apart from that we felt great about the adventures to come as we headed to the train station to go to Nice, France. Only downside is Jen's back injury which has flaired up after an epic jumping picture taken yesterday. We think a backpacker with a bad back is less than ideal but a morning pill cocktail got Jen off the floor and ready to load up.
Trains were confusing today but the French men have redeemed themselves. We needed to take 4 trains to get to Nice, an all day journey. The first trains were no problem and we played some competitive card games, napped, stared at amazing views of Spanish villages and then French country side.
After arriving in Valence, where the smell of French people greeted us immediately, we were told by the frosty (we would call her something ruder but we will refrain) French ticket lady told us getting to Nice was impossible as all trains were full except a first class ticket to Aix En Provence (where we would get on another train) for a few hundred bucks each, not an option for us. We sat at the platform of the train we would not be on and discussed options of going to Italy or switzerland or somewhere north. We watched all the people pile on and the doors closed so we headed for the train station exit, defeated. Jen decided to make one last desperate attempt to get on the train by playing dumb to the conductor and claiming we thought we didn't need a ticket because of our eurail passes, what a ridiculous and stupid idea....until it worked. He pulled us both on the train through the only open door as the train pulled away and him and another guy sold us tickets for 20 bucks and then laughed at our stunned faces as they told us to go sit anywhere we wanted in the first class cabin...is this real life?! What a stroke of luck! And what a redemption for the less than pleasant Parisian men!
We had one more train to catch from Aix En Province to Nice...."impossible!" the young French ticket lady declared when she saw our eurail passes. Full price tickets only, all the eurail seats were sold out. We didn't dare go try our luck with this conductor too...or did we? We approached him without tickets and he waved us into the train saying he would come find us in a minute. We couldnt believe our luck when he walked up to where we were sitting and told us we owed him nothing and could sit where we pleased. These train conductors were really turning out to be alright guys!
Woot woot for the kind souls of the world. You really can change someones entire day with one gesture. This is a really important thing to remember and we have a LOT of good karma to pass on to people we meet both during and after our travels.
Trains were confusing today but the French men have redeemed themselves. We needed to take 4 trains to get to Nice, an all day journey. The first trains were no problem and we played some competitive card games, napped, stared at amazing views of Spanish villages and then French country side.
After arriving in Valence, where the smell of French people greeted us immediately, we were told by the frosty (we would call her something ruder but we will refrain) French ticket lady told us getting to Nice was impossible as all trains were full except a first class ticket to Aix En Provence (where we would get on another train) for a few hundred bucks each, not an option for us. We sat at the platform of the train we would not be on and discussed options of going to Italy or switzerland or somewhere north. We watched all the people pile on and the doors closed so we headed for the train station exit, defeated. Jen decided to make one last desperate attempt to get on the train by playing dumb to the conductor and claiming we thought we didn't need a ticket because of our eurail passes, what a ridiculous and stupid idea....until it worked. He pulled us both on the train through the only open door as the train pulled away and him and another guy sold us tickets for 20 bucks and then laughed at our stunned faces as they told us to go sit anywhere we wanted in the first class cabin...is this real life?! What a stroke of luck! And what a redemption for the less than pleasant Parisian men!
We had one more train to catch from Aix En Province to Nice...."impossible!" the young French ticket lady declared when she saw our eurail passes. Full price tickets only, all the eurail seats were sold out. We didn't dare go try our luck with this conductor too...or did we? We approached him without tickets and he waved us into the train saying he would come find us in a minute. We couldnt believe our luck when he walked up to where we were sitting and told us we owed him nothing and could sit where we pleased. These train conductors were really turning out to be alright guys!
Woot woot for the kind souls of the world. You really can change someones entire day with one gesture. This is a really important thing to remember and we have a LOT of good karma to pass on to people we meet both during and after our travels.
March 26th - April 3rd: "Guys I think I have vertigo...I am really scared of heights"
Ookay so a week of family vacay also became a week of no blogging. We had an awesome time in Barcelona with the Foster fam. Britt (Jennys sister) has become quite the saucy Spaniard and knows all the best things to do in Barcelona, many of which happen after midnight until the wee hours of the morning.
We stayed in a HOTEL with an awesome shower and a huge not-bunkbed and we were literally spoiled to death and fed like queens (fat queens at that) by Simon and Patti. Kelly has been an honorary Foster for years and gels with the family to the point that we all forget she isn't a relative in the first place. All we can say to Simon & Patti for taking our homeless nomad selves under their unbelievably generous wings is...
thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you
thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you
thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you
thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you
thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you
thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you
That really isnt enough thank you's so we will pay the rest off by simply saying that Simon is a fab dude and we owe him a stellar vacation, or a very classy nursing home in later years, the kind with a salad bar and nice toilet paper. And Plat, well we owe you many a generous cocktails at Embers... maybe we'll even be able to throw in a few sushi rolls too :)
Jenny is so happy to have such an amazing, fun, kind, wonderful family and Kelly is super grateful for being a temporary adoptee.
The first half of the week Jenny's super fun Auntie Sue and Uncle Rick made for some seriously great Barcelona company. We owe them a huge thank you for picking up bills that are far out of our budget, and for being such fun to spend time with!
On Wedesday Sue and Rick departed and Simons parents arrived. Some quality family time was had by all and we enjoyed talks about life, family, love, travels and the city that Britt has been calling home. A big thank you is owed here as well!!
We didn't realize how dirty and homeless we have become until we were around clean unhomeless people - when we arrived Jen's dad said he could visibly see dirt on her forehead. We made it our mission to become a little less homeless in this week of being sedentary by showering daily, making use of a blowdryer and some cosmetics, and even doing laundry! Sue was absolutely horrified that we were living in dirty clothes and she was not having it one bit. She said it had to be done asap or our clothes would start standing up ad waking around on their own shortly.
We spent a lot of time on the famous street, La Ramblas which had shops, tapas, cervezas, artists, people, and street performers (who Jennys brother Alex gave a run for their money with his seriously awesome breakdancing moves) galore. Side roads winded off to plazas and other huge boulevards and streets - Barcelona is a huuge city with an especially huuge and impressive market full of beautiful stands of fruit, candy, nuts, nicknacks, and not so beautiful skinned rabbits and plucked chickens with heads...ew.
It really was a great and packed week so we are going to highlight our favorite things:
1) Chapitos shots bar-- Imagine all of your favorite things turned into shots. Roasting marshmallows, whipped cream and MMs, pop rocks and even a head massage.... then set them all on fire and add some liqour. This is Brittany's favorite spot, for obvious reasons, and now ours as well. Shot after shot, it was a great family outing :) DELICIOUS!
We stayed in a HOTEL with an awesome shower and a huge not-bunkbed and we were literally spoiled to death and fed like queens (fat queens at that) by Simon and Patti. Kelly has been an honorary Foster for years and gels with the family to the point that we all forget she isn't a relative in the first place. All we can say to Simon & Patti for taking our homeless nomad selves under their unbelievably generous wings is...
thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you
thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you
thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you
thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you
thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you
thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you
That really isnt enough thank you's so we will pay the rest off by simply saying that Simon is a fab dude and we owe him a stellar vacation, or a very classy nursing home in later years, the kind with a salad bar and nice toilet paper. And Plat, well we owe you many a generous cocktails at Embers... maybe we'll even be able to throw in a few sushi rolls too :)
Jenny is so happy to have such an amazing, fun, kind, wonderful family and Kelly is super grateful for being a temporary adoptee.
The first half of the week Jenny's super fun Auntie Sue and Uncle Rick made for some seriously great Barcelona company. We owe them a huge thank you for picking up bills that are far out of our budget, and for being such fun to spend time with!
On Wedesday Sue and Rick departed and Simons parents arrived. Some quality family time was had by all and we enjoyed talks about life, family, love, travels and the city that Britt has been calling home. A big thank you is owed here as well!!
We didn't realize how dirty and homeless we have become until we were around clean unhomeless people - when we arrived Jen's dad said he could visibly see dirt on her forehead. We made it our mission to become a little less homeless in this week of being sedentary by showering daily, making use of a blowdryer and some cosmetics, and even doing laundry! Sue was absolutely horrified that we were living in dirty clothes and she was not having it one bit. She said it had to be done asap or our clothes would start standing up ad waking around on their own shortly.
We spent a lot of time on the famous street, La Ramblas which had shops, tapas, cervezas, artists, people, and street performers (who Jennys brother Alex gave a run for their money with his seriously awesome breakdancing moves) galore. Side roads winded off to plazas and other huge boulevards and streets - Barcelona is a huuge city with an especially huuge and impressive market full of beautiful stands of fruit, candy, nuts, nicknacks, and not so beautiful skinned rabbits and plucked chickens with heads...ew.
It really was a great and packed week so we are going to highlight our favorite things:
1) Chapitos shots bar-- Imagine all of your favorite things turned into shots. Roasting marshmallows, whipped cream and MMs, pop rocks and even a head massage.... then set them all on fire and add some liqour. This is Brittany's favorite spot, for obvious reasons, and now ours as well. Shot after shot, it was a great family outing :) DELICIOUS!
2) The Craziest Cerveza Stop Ever -- After strolling Las Ramblas, we found ourselves in need of an afternoon cerveza. We stopped off at outdoor cafe where we sat in between 2 huge tables, one of drunk German women and one of drunk Norweigan men. We gave them a run for their money with our cerveza skills, but they were far ahead of us and we still had more sights to see. Jenny and Patti popped up for streetside purse purchases and Alex got a shanzy pair of Ray Bans (wink wink). A great afternoon pitstop on our first full day!
3) Chinese to-go on the beach -- cervezas didn't quite fill this group up, so a couple hours later we found ourselves beach side and hungry. We stopped in a to-go Wok restaurant, then sat on the beach eating our delicious boxed lunches with chop sticks. The Medditeranean and people watching weren't bad backgrounds.
4) Gaudi's architecture -- Gaudi was an amazing architect who created insane buildings that contain few straight lines and often look like they are melting or growing, or like a gingerbread house, or like a crazy treetop canopy....he did a lot of drugs obviously, but was killed when he got hit by a tram (this seems ot be a very important fact in Barcelona and we are sure that we aren't mistaken about the tram incident as we were all told about 10 times). Gaudi's most famous Barcelonana work is the Sagrada Familia, an enormous cathedral that he began working on over 100 years ago. It is still under construction and they have a looong way to go, but what has been completed in insane! Gaudi also attempted to build a neighborhood of strange houses which is now a park with lots of crazy stone architecture. All of our legs were made of lead the day of the park but it was an amazing sight nonetheless.
5) Dinner and champagne at the W - Britt's classy and awesome friend Elenor managed to use her in with the hotel industry to get an unbelievable room at the W. She invited us all over for dinner and champage in this crazy hotel built right on the coast. We all agreed that we would rather sleep in the lobby of this bad boy than just about any other hotel we had ever seen. Dinner and drinks were a delicious and fun time. Great family company and Elenor was her hilarious self as always.
6) Super Lazy rooftop hotel day - Today we did...nothing. We all went out for cafe breakfast and then headed up to our hotel roof with ice bucket pool. No swimming but lots of pink cheeks and noses as we soaked up the sunshine and drank some cervezas (to Plat's request of course). This was a great vacay day with a real break from stopping around the world and sightseeing.
4) Gaudi's architecture -- Gaudi was an amazing architect who created insane buildings that contain few straight lines and often look like they are melting or growing, or like a gingerbread house, or like a crazy treetop canopy....he did a lot of drugs obviously, but was killed when he got hit by a tram (this seems ot be a very important fact in Barcelona and we are sure that we aren't mistaken about the tram incident as we were all told about 10 times). Gaudi's most famous Barcelonana work is the Sagrada Familia, an enormous cathedral that he began working on over 100 years ago. It is still under construction and they have a looong way to go, but what has been completed in insane! Gaudi also attempted to build a neighborhood of strange houses which is now a park with lots of crazy stone architecture. All of our legs were made of lead the day of the park but it was an amazing sight nonetheless.
5) Dinner and champagne at the W - Britt's classy and awesome friend Elenor managed to use her in with the hotel industry to get an unbelievable room at the W. She invited us all over for dinner and champage in this crazy hotel built right on the coast. We all agreed that we would rather sleep in the lobby of this bad boy than just about any other hotel we had ever seen. Dinner and drinks were a delicious and fun time. Great family company and Elenor was her hilarious self as always.
6) Super Lazy rooftop hotel day - Today we did...nothing. We all went out for cafe breakfast and then headed up to our hotel roof with ice bucket pool. No swimming but lots of pink cheeks and noses as we soaked up the sunshine and drank some cervezas (to Plat's request of course). This was a great vacay day with a real break from stopping around the world and sightseeing.
7) Olympic park - Our last full day in Barcelona Britt dragged us out of bed to go sightseeing. We went up to an enormous beautiful museum on top of a mountain, opting for the hundreds of stairs rather than taking the outdoor escalators to the top (well, except the lazy ones of us). The view from the top was so pretty! From here we strolled through some beautiful and mostly deserted gardens, stopped for lunch and then went to the site of the Olympics in 1994. Underneath the Olympic torch we all had a lottle outfoor siesta, until we woke up and took a jumping picture which thre Jen's back out...backpacker with a bad back is no bueno, updates to come on this one.
8) Nightclubbing with Britt - Miss BFost is quite the nightime scenster so she took the 2 of us old grannies out on some late night adventures. After Chapitos shots we headed to one of Barcelona's huuuge clubs packed with people, mosh pit style, with house music blaring. Britt had never been there and taking us seemed to be a shot fueled decision as she later regretted it, but we had fun! We hit the town for round 2 with Elenor and Britt to go to an awesome club with the world's best DJ. Great tunes, ghetto dancing (by yours truly of course) and fire eating dancers wearing sparkly unitards...this place was nuts and our fave! Round 3, we decided to do a little pregaming, on a bench of La Rambla, turns out the cops didn't much like this idea and so they decided we should do something else. We decided to run into a nearby restaurtant and use their bathroom...but the owners didn't like this plan either and they pounded on the door while we took turns using the W.C. They didn't seem too pleased so we ran out again. Off to a big beachside nightclub until later than we thought when it was time for suspicious pastry and pizza snacks. We think we would have been better ngihtlife bunnies a few years ago...
On La Rambla there is a famous drinking fountain - ledgend says a sip of water from the fountain will ensure you return to Barcelona again. At first we avoided a sip from it as there are a lot of places in the world and we couldn't be committing to come back to this one. After an awesome week here, and the increasing possibility of Britt taking up residence in Barcelona, we decided we needed a gulp of this legendary water on our last night here. Bye for now Barelona! Guess we will both be seeing you again!
Friday March 25: Bust Measurements in Granada
Our 10am alarm came to soon this morning after late night heart to hearts and falafel binges. Kel popped in for the brief hot water shower and then we looked up train times; where to today? Valencia was out 1st option but there wasn't a train until tonight so we said screw Valencia, on to Barcelona! Another day in Granada seemed pretty awesome, and the weather wasn't ideal on thecoast for a quick beach trip to Malaga. We checked out, leaving our luggage, and set off to find breakfast. Honestly all we really wanted was a bug Starbucks, (sigh) but it seems they haven't conquered this part of Andalucia yet. Eggs instead... We surveyed the area spots until we picked one of the few spots still serving brunch items. We each had our coffee followed by eggs and asparagus, which turned out to be almost all asparagus (huge plate) and some eggs. It was delicious and we are in desperate need of green meals these days. Afterwards we knick knack shopped and cruised new areas of town. We watched some homeless men (?) and a she-man nap as people geared up for the big soccer game tonight against Czech republic, drinking 40s and kicking soccer balls around. Later we paused for 1euro ice cream cones (yum!) and sat in a park to enjoy out treats.
We made our way back to our neck of the woods where we decided to shop the countless stores of the Arabic tea street. They all sell these big pants/onesies that we bargained for with no luck. They are hott! Darn our frugal attitudes. Jenny decided to try on a bejeweled belly dancing bra top... Kelly said it was too big but she didn't care. Until the store owner, an older Arabic gentlemen emerged telling Jen she needed a different one. Kelly felt awkward immediately. He (in Spanish) suggested a more full coverage top and one that was obviously a small size. Que Kelly starting to geek out while Jenny remains calm. He then pointed to Jenny and the top saying "un pequena", or smaller, ALSO making a hand motion so that we were sure he was talking about Jennys boob size. Out we went. Yes you read this right, the old man told Jenny she needed a smaller and more modest bra. Hold on...
HahahahahhahahahahHhhhhahahahahhaahhahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahhahaahahhahahahahahahahahaha.
We laughed so hard down the street that other store owners laughed with us. Hilarious. We kept shopping around and ended the afternoon back on top of the Arabic square we went to yesterday, overlooking Granada. It was packed today, but so clear! The snow covered mountains were the backdrop to a perfect sunset scene of Andalucia. Flamenco bands filled our ears as we sat on the wall, so happy to be taking in such a breath taking sight. We strolled back down the winding rocky, narrow roads of homes, turning corners as a guy playing steel drums made the whole scene feel surreal. This is why were here... These moments of magic in foreign places we don't know or understand. It's really awesome.
We grabbed our bags from the hostel and stopped at our 2 favorite pubs for beer and tapas. From there we caught a bus that we hoped went to the train station. After a few minutes on the jam packed bus we heard screams but couldn't figure it out. Then again, this time we realized a teenage girl with 3 friends had fainted but woke up quickly. The third time she was OUT. The bus driver stopped the bus, after letting them off and went back along with several others to help her. the Spanish people are amazing, never would you see such concern a big city bus at home.
We realized our bus had veered off to the wrong direction so we Inquired to our bus mates and hopped off. People stopped to help us an after 10 minutes or so we were there. The only available option for the overnight bus was an expensive sleeper cabin, but now that's where we are and were glad. Hopefully we can get some better than normal train sleep. We should be in Barcelona in about 10 hours if this janky train makes it :)
Time for lights out amigos... Buenos noches!
We made our way back to our neck of the woods where we decided to shop the countless stores of the Arabic tea street. They all sell these big pants/onesies that we bargained for with no luck. They are hott! Darn our frugal attitudes. Jenny decided to try on a bejeweled belly dancing bra top... Kelly said it was too big but she didn't care. Until the store owner, an older Arabic gentlemen emerged telling Jen she needed a different one. Kelly felt awkward immediately. He (in Spanish) suggested a more full coverage top and one that was obviously a small size. Que Kelly starting to geek out while Jenny remains calm. He then pointed to Jenny and the top saying "un pequena", or smaller, ALSO making a hand motion so that we were sure he was talking about Jennys boob size. Out we went. Yes you read this right, the old man told Jenny she needed a smaller and more modest bra. Hold on...
HahahahahhahahahahHhhhhahahaha
We laughed so hard down the street that other store owners laughed with us. Hilarious. We kept shopping around and ended the afternoon back on top of the Arabic square we went to yesterday, overlooking Granada. It was packed today, but so clear! The snow covered mountains were the backdrop to a perfect sunset scene of Andalucia. Flamenco bands filled our ears as we sat on the wall, so happy to be taking in such a breath taking sight. We strolled back down the winding rocky, narrow roads of homes, turning corners as a guy playing steel drums made the whole scene feel surreal. This is why were here... These moments of magic in foreign places we don't know or understand. It's really awesome.
We grabbed our bags from the hostel and stopped at our 2 favorite pubs for beer and tapas. From there we caught a bus that we hoped went to the train station. After a few minutes on the jam packed bus we heard screams but couldn't figure it out. Then again, this time we realized a teenage girl with 3 friends had fainted but woke up quickly. The third time she was OUT. The bus driver stopped the bus, after letting them off and went back along with several others to help her. the Spanish people are amazing, never would you see such concern a big city bus at home.
We realized our bus had veered off to the wrong direction so we Inquired to our bus mates and hopped off. People stopped to help us an after 10 minutes or so we were there. The only available option for the overnight bus was an expensive sleeper cabin, but now that's where we are and were glad. Hopefully we can get some better than normal train sleep. We should be in Barcelona in about 10 hours if this janky train makes it :)
Time for lights out amigos... Buenos noches!
Thursday, March 24th - Give us some tapas....FOR FREE!!
Time for our favorite kind of breakfast, the free kind! In the hostel kitchen we met some real characters including the american version of Russel Brand who was rocking high tops, a retro leather jacket and wifebeater combo with some serious toucan hair as he poured milk over the enormous trough of cereal and ice cubes he had created out of a large plastic casserole dish. He seemed to have lots of wise words of crazy wisdom so we decided to hire him as our life coach...turns out he was the worst life coach ever but his friends were discussing their afternoon departure to Morocco. Turns out these guys weren't Russel's friends after all, which made him and his toucan hair even weirder. We talked to the Morocco guys about their plan of departure. Since we both always want to go everywhere we decided that Morocco had to be added to our travel itinerary at some point. Maybe today? We did some research and made no decisions on the matter, befriended our breakfast friends on Facebook and told them maybe we would see them shorty in Africa. Standard hostel breakfast conversation seems very strange when we think about it.
Then it was out for some good old fashioned wandering. Granada is unbelievable. White washed houses with tile roofs are eeeerywhere and the stone (not cobblestone) roads are accordingly winding and confusing. Granada is essentially built in a valley, 2 huge sloping hills packed with the houses perched dangerously at all angles with a small river in the middle. On one of these hills sits the magnificent and enormous Alambrah, a huge palace dating back to the 12th century. A pamphlet about the Alambrah claims it to be on par with the 7 wonders of the world. On the other hill is the Arabic district of hooka smoke filled tea shops, street front shops packed with bright silk pants and knitted tops, leather bags, mosaic jewelry boxes, and a strong smell of incense. Our hostel is located on one of these Arabic tea streets on the opposite side of the valley from Alambrah.
There is a very young alternative crowd in Granada, maybe even more dreadlocks than Samara and certainly more piercings. We dont quite understand the biggest hair trend in Spain at the moment, a buzz cut with long dreadlocks in the back, kind of an extreme rasta mullet. Girls and guys sport this look but who are we to judge? There is something so delightful in walking up an extremely old street with classic Andelucian houses with their white peeling walls and crooked flower boxes amongst young modern people with lip rings, dreads, and strategically ripped jeans and shirts.
We are really embracing the mantra "Life is about the journey not the destination." Going places on our feet and getting lost for hours beats taking a bus directly there any day. We find hidden jewels and local spots and turn left or right on a whim usually avoiding the most touristy and discovered spots. That's what led us here (see video later). Amazing amazing day!
Next we decided to check out the Alambrah, a walk that everyone deemed too far and too steep. We decided to give it a try. We weaved onward and upward and downward and every direction until we were in the valley where we ate a salad and discovered a crazy work out playground. We had made it down one side of the valley, next for the hike up. Impossible walk may have been a true statement but our overfed tapa bums were in need of this serious hike.
We finally made it to the top and stood at the Alambrah ticket office where we decided we didn't really care to go in here and stare around and take pictures. Instead we went to the gift shop and flipped through some Alambrah cofffee table books and admired the Moorish architecture and then left. Psh, 7 wonders of the world, just a bit of good PR we decided.
Our "only book hostels one night at a time in case we decide to go somewhere else" method had really screwed us and our home away from home, oasis backpackers, didnt have a single unbooked bed. After all the homeless jokes we had finally jinxed ourselves.
Dilemma: we are homeless. We were too indecisive to book a second night at our hostel and now they are full. So is every other hostel in town, which we understand because Granada is the shit.
We have 2 solutions for this problem...
Solution 1: take the train to a ferry to Morocco, Africa and find home there for a few days.
Solution 2: accept homeless state, eat cheap tapas dinner, and attend all night illegal underground rave outside of Granada, negating the need for a home at all.
We decided to make this important decision over beer and tapas. Grenada really gets tapas. With every beer you order they bring you a huge plate of food...for FREE! We had one too many tapas, and maybe one too many beers as we discussed our plans for the night.
Option 2 wins, Morocco will have to be a future destination on tour'de JenKel.
Dear parents, you're welcome. Although an all night illegal Spanish rave may not be your favorite, we're sure that an unplanned trip to Africa is lower on your favorite list.
Skip forward a few hours, HUGE buzzkill, Yan, the super tall bald Parisian manager of Oasis informed us that his employee who was going to take us out to the rave had bailed. Hmm, maybe we should have gone with option 1: skip town and head to Morocco, but it was too late to get a train or bus to the coast by this point. Luckily Yan had an idea and he walked us down the Arabic tea street and rang the buzzer at a huge door. We walked up a few flights of stairs and Yan banged on another door. A tiny super excited Spanish man peeked his face out of a sliding compartment in the door. Think in mafia movies when the badies bring a goodie into a secret building and their friend makes them say a password through the door. Yan told the guy we were there for a room and the tiny Spanish man opened his door looking puzzled. "A room for 3?" he asked, suspiciously eyeing super tall bald Yan with his hood up and the 2 of us with our huge inconspicuous backpacks on. This was one of those hilarious situations that our poor writing skills can't do justice to. The tiny Spanish man, who was moving and talking at 100 miles a minute, ushered us into a principal like office and sat us down to sort out a room while Yan sat in the corner with his arms crossed like a super scary body guard. The office was full of oragami swans and random books, we were in the Spanish Mr. Miagi's hostel. Mr. Miagi's got us a room in his pension and then scrambled around loudly telling us to be quiet and showing us the wifi zone (2 plastic chairs in the dark hallway) and best of all, the microwave which he gave a full demo of how to use as he proudly told us it was FREE for us to use! What a phenomenal perk as we were clearly laden with microwavable foods. Mr. Miagi said everything no less than 12 times before he was sure we understood and moved on to the next thing. Our room was awesome though and we controlled our hysterical laughter about the situation briefly and gave Yan a hug and a thank you before he peaced out. The comradery of people traveling is hard to explain but such an amazing thing to be a part of. People that you have known for only a few hours and will most likely never see again go out of their way to befriend and help you. Everyone watches out for everyone else in this little hostel hopping international subculture that we have become a part of.
Right dilemma resolved. We are no longer homeless, sadly rave is out, and even more sadly we had lost our great cerveza buzz from earlier. Solution, out for more beer, which came with more snacks, damn the Spanish! Then we fell into a classic 4 hour Kelly and Jenny heart to heart about all kinds of things. At 5am we decided the night was still pretty young, for Spain and all, so we went back out on the town.
We went to the biggest nightclub in Granada, so we had been told. It looked a lot more like an awkward teenage filled Bar mitzvah party to us and everyone sang along to terrible Spanish pop. Bed time...but first, a shared falafel for breakfast. In case you cant tell from reading our posts, we are really starving here in Spain, wasting away to nothing.
Overall and unbelievable day!! No Morocco, no rave, but the destination is in the journey remember?
Then it was out for some good old fashioned wandering. Granada is unbelievable. White washed houses with tile roofs are eeeerywhere and the stone (not cobblestone) roads are accordingly winding and confusing. Granada is essentially built in a valley, 2 huge sloping hills packed with the houses perched dangerously at all angles with a small river in the middle. On one of these hills sits the magnificent and enormous Alambrah, a huge palace dating back to the 12th century. A pamphlet about the Alambrah claims it to be on par with the 7 wonders of the world. On the other hill is the Arabic district of hooka smoke filled tea shops, street front shops packed with bright silk pants and knitted tops, leather bags, mosaic jewelry boxes, and a strong smell of incense. Our hostel is located on one of these Arabic tea streets on the opposite side of the valley from Alambrah.
There is a very young alternative crowd in Granada, maybe even more dreadlocks than Samara and certainly more piercings. We dont quite understand the biggest hair trend in Spain at the moment, a buzz cut with long dreadlocks in the back, kind of an extreme rasta mullet. Girls and guys sport this look but who are we to judge? There is something so delightful in walking up an extremely old street with classic Andelucian houses with their white peeling walls and crooked flower boxes amongst young modern people with lip rings, dreads, and strategically ripped jeans and shirts.
We are really embracing the mantra "Life is about the journey not the destination." Going places on our feet and getting lost for hours beats taking a bus directly there any day. We find hidden jewels and local spots and turn left or right on a whim usually avoiding the most touristy and discovered spots. That's what led us here (see video later). Amazing amazing day!
Next we decided to check out the Alambrah, a walk that everyone deemed too far and too steep. We decided to give it a try. We weaved onward and upward and downward and every direction until we were in the valley where we ate a salad and discovered a crazy work out playground. We had made it down one side of the valley, next for the hike up. Impossible walk may have been a true statement but our overfed tapa bums were in need of this serious hike.
We finally made it to the top and stood at the Alambrah ticket office where we decided we didn't really care to go in here and stare around and take pictures. Instead we went to the gift shop and flipped through some Alambrah cofffee table books and admired the Moorish architecture and then left. Psh, 7 wonders of the world, just a bit of good PR we decided.
Our "only book hostels one night at a time in case we decide to go somewhere else" method had really screwed us and our home away from home, oasis backpackers, didnt have a single unbooked bed. After all the homeless jokes we had finally jinxed ourselves.
Dilemma: we are homeless. We were too indecisive to book a second night at our hostel and now they are full. So is every other hostel in town, which we understand because Granada is the shit.
We have 2 solutions for this problem...
Solution 1: take the train to a ferry to Morocco, Africa and find home there for a few days.
Solution 2: accept homeless state, eat cheap tapas dinner, and attend all night illegal underground rave outside of Granada, negating the need for a home at all.
We decided to make this important decision over beer and tapas. Grenada really gets tapas. With every beer you order they bring you a huge plate of food...for FREE! We had one too many tapas, and maybe one too many beers as we discussed our plans for the night.
Option 2 wins, Morocco will have to be a future destination on tour'de JenKel.
Dear parents, you're welcome. Although an all night illegal Spanish rave may not be your favorite, we're sure that an unplanned trip to Africa is lower on your favorite list.
Skip forward a few hours, HUGE buzzkill, Yan, the super tall bald Parisian manager of Oasis informed us that his employee who was going to take us out to the rave had bailed. Hmm, maybe we should have gone with option 1: skip town and head to Morocco, but it was too late to get a train or bus to the coast by this point. Luckily Yan had an idea and he walked us down the Arabic tea street and rang the buzzer at a huge door. We walked up a few flights of stairs and Yan banged on another door. A tiny super excited Spanish man peeked his face out of a sliding compartment in the door. Think in mafia movies when the badies bring a goodie into a secret building and their friend makes them say a password through the door. Yan told the guy we were there for a room and the tiny Spanish man opened his door looking puzzled. "A room for 3?" he asked, suspiciously eyeing super tall bald Yan with his hood up and the 2 of us with our huge inconspicuous backpacks on. This was one of those hilarious situations that our poor writing skills can't do justice to. The tiny Spanish man, who was moving and talking at 100 miles a minute, ushered us into a principal like office and sat us down to sort out a room while Yan sat in the corner with his arms crossed like a super scary body guard. The office was full of oragami swans and random books, we were in the Spanish Mr. Miagi's hostel. Mr. Miagi's got us a room in his pension and then scrambled around loudly telling us to be quiet and showing us the wifi zone (2 plastic chairs in the dark hallway) and best of all, the microwave which he gave a full demo of how to use as he proudly told us it was FREE for us to use! What a phenomenal perk as we were clearly laden with microwavable foods. Mr. Miagi said everything no less than 12 times before he was sure we understood and moved on to the next thing. Our room was awesome though and we controlled our hysterical laughter about the situation briefly and gave Yan a hug and a thank you before he peaced out. The comradery of people traveling is hard to explain but such an amazing thing to be a part of. People that you have known for only a few hours and will most likely never see again go out of their way to befriend and help you. Everyone watches out for everyone else in this little hostel hopping international subculture that we have become a part of.
Right dilemma resolved. We are no longer homeless, sadly rave is out, and even more sadly we had lost our great cerveza buzz from earlier. Solution, out for more beer, which came with more snacks, damn the Spanish! Then we fell into a classic 4 hour Kelly and Jenny heart to heart about all kinds of things. At 5am we decided the night was still pretty young, for Spain and all, so we went back out on the town.
We went to the biggest nightclub in Granada, so we had been told. It looked a lot more like an awkward teenage filled Bar mitzvah party to us and everyone sang along to terrible Spanish pop. Bed time...but first, a shared falafel for breakfast. In case you cant tell from reading our posts, we are really starving here in Spain, wasting away to nothing.
Overall and unbelievable day!! No Morocco, no rave, but the destination is in the journey remember?
Wednesday March 23- Fallafel Row
This morning we woke up with a definite plan to put in action...a nice change of pace from yesterday. We showered, had our free breakfast and repacked as usual. We have all our clothes in what is essentially a giant ziplock bag. This keeps everything organized but also air tight to save us room. Well Jennys bag got a hole and is now totally ripped, so packing her stuff is not exactly an easy task. It's funny because these backpacks look huge on us, but they really don't hold too much. The 3 juniors at Vanderbilt that were in our dorm had Kelly green with envy this morning as they threw on cute outfits and stuffed the rest into suitcases. One thing we do know is our closets will seem like the mall when we get home!
We briefly considered going to Cadiz for a night to enjoy the beach, but we already booked a hostel in Granada for tonight so no such luck. We said farewell to our adorable new Scottish girlfriend and hopped on a bus to the train station. 2 tickets later we were on a one hour train to Cordoba for the day.
At this station we reserved our tickets for a 7:00 train to Granada, and stashed our bags in lockers at the bus station across the street. Cordoba is a really cool town, still a city but we found our way to the old city area for some sightseeing. Within 30 or so minutes we stumbled upon Alcazar de Los Reyes Cristianos... We didn't know anything about this (and still don't to be honest) but it was free and pretty so in we went. It was amazing! An old castle and fort from the 12th century with gorgeous sprawling gardens. We walked up to the top, over looking mountains and ruins and through the gardens full of calla lilies, fountains, statues and what Kelly calls Edward scissorhand trees. Jenny decided this was her favorite spot... Ever. We stayed in there for a long time until we had worked up an appetite. It was siesta time so lots of spots had closed but we found cheap ham and cheese empanadas and ate them on the steps of another huge sight, the Mezquita-Cathedral. We walked through this patio but didn't have time or money to go in. The moorish architecture of the building alone is a sure sign it's a beautiful landmark. We strolled back towards our train, stopping to buy fruit and look around a market in a park full of families. We made it back for our train and we were (drumroll here) early!!! Are we getting better at this? (shh don't jinx it)
We made our way off a train, to a bus (in the rain) and our nice but Spanish correcting bus driver took us where we needed to be. From there we winded down an Arabic tea street/alley as our directions suggested. Finally a nice Italian guy pointed us in the right direction, when that didn't work he just walked us here. The hostel is full of people and is similar to our other oasis hostel but more lively and vibey. We used our free drink cards for sangria and met the manager, a Parisian guy in the bar, where incense is burning and peoples quotes line the chalk wall. "together for japan" is a great example.
We started talking to a guy from New Mexico who is working here and decided to let him show us a good spot down the street for late night tapas and cervezas. Great choice... Our little sandwhiches didn't fill up these hungry hippos though, so he then took us down the street of fallafels. Neither of us have ever had a fallafel and let us just say... Yum! We ran into jays (new Mexico guy) pals, the parisian and another french guy who led tonights tapa tour which we skipped. We left them out and headed home. As we sat in the lobby chowing down and Jenny talked to her mama, they came back also. Kelly and Luco the southern French guy here studying flamenco guitar had a long chat. Neither of who could understand each other but she was able to demonstrate how she burns toast. Skills. 3 cities, 1 day? Yep... Bedtime.
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